STORY: The tornado was moving east at about 40 mph (11 kmph), local media reported.

On Friday (March 24) a powerful storm tore across Mississippi killing at least 25 people there and one person in Alabama as it leveled hundreds of buildings and spawned at least one devastating tornado.

The tornado stayed on the ground for about an hour and cut a path of destruction some 170 miles (274 km) long, according to Nicholas Price, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Jackson, Mississippi.